Beginning To Build A List

It's David Lee here. I've got today's presentation for you, "Beginning To Build A List". It is important for you if you are starting a small business from home that you get potential customers to come and find you, and to get their details so that you can contact them.

So the presentation will be broken into 3 parts:

1) Who Is Your Target Audience

2) Online/Offline Lead Generation

3) A Case Study Example

Let's get started.

Part 1: Who Is Your Target Audience

Now this is something I see overlooked and very unclear from the people that I meet and talk about business to, that they want to go into business. Either they don't have a product, they don't even know if there's an audience for the product they've got. They go an build a website or they go and build their product and they really don't know if anybody is going to be a potential customer or convert them into a customer.

You have to be very clear about what it is that you offer. The people know exactly what it is. And that you can find that audience if you need to, if you do a search on the internet, if you search on Google.

What are the problems that people are having within that niche market that you are really a solution provider to those people. It could be anything at all. It could be just your experience that you've had from your work, from your personal life. It really doesn’t matter. There is an audience from many people, but the question is “Are they willing to spend”? That’s what you must find out.

There are easy ways for you to find that audience and to target them. Now for example, you could create a group on Facebook where you attract people that are like-minded, have similar interests to yourself. Look for the groups within Facebook.

Otherwise, join forum board groups on the subject matter that you’re looking to specialise in and you be the specialist, you give advice. And allow them to come and find you on your website, so you will need a website. And you need for people to be able to put their name and email address in, in the first instance.

Part 2: Online/Offline Lead Generation

What you doing is creating as many points of entry for the people out there to find you. Now, if you look closely on the list it says here, for example, a blog, a website. It could be social media, as I've mentioned with Facebook. It could be article generation that you're creating.

But you want people to find you based on the key search terms they are looking for, or the key problems that they have got. And in offline marketing you could go to a group meeting where people again are interested in such same subject matter. Give them your business card. Distribute a leaflet if you wish. Put an advert in the newspaper or in a specialised magazine where you give them the opportunity to come to your website, put their name and email address in. Offer them a webinar! I keep saying quite often a webinar is to get personal contact with people and to do it in a live environment.